Counseling

The Firm provides counseling with respect to labor and employment law issues, including the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws, leaves of absence, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, employee handbooks and employment policies, employment applications, employment and independent contractor agreements, affirmative action plans, disciplinary actions and termination decisions, workplace investigations, reductions in force and plant closings, and separation agreements.

Affirmative Action Programs
The Firm’s attorneys have extensive experience helping clients determine whether they qualify as government contractors and/or subcontractors and assisting clients in complying with any government contractor obligations. This assistance includes drafting, implementing and updating affirmative action plans, including utilization, compensation and availability analyses; drafting affirmative action policy statements, procedures, notices and letters; and training clients about their affirmative action obligations. In addition, the Firm represents clients through all aspects of Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program audits and in any related litigation.

Employee Benefits
The Firm counsels and represents employers with respect to preparation, implementation and interpretation of certain employee benefits plans, programs and arrangements.

Employee Handbooks and Policies
The Firm drafts and reviews employee handbooks, managers’ guides, human resources manuals, employment policies, employment applications, and other employment-related forms. The Firm has prepared and reviewed employee handbooks, policies and forms for businesses in a wide variety of industries, for small businesses in one location, and for larger businesses in all 50 United States.

Employment and Other Agreements
The Firm counsels employers in negotiating and drafting all types of employment agreements, including executive employment agreements, standard employment agreements, confidentiality agreements, non-solicitation agreements, non-competition agreements, independent contractor agreements, and separation agreements.

Human Resources Audits
The Firm conducts a full range of proactive and preventative human resources audits of policies and procedures to evaluate compliance with all applicable state and federal labor and employment laws, including issues related to benefits, co-employment, confidential information and trade secrets, discrimination, employee housing, employment documents, hiring processes, independent contractors, insurance coverage, personnel records, tele-commuting, union avoidance, wage and hour compliance and workplace safety.

Client-Sign Up
Firm clients can contact the Firm for a detailed “Human Resources Audit” letter describing the preventative measures that the Firm recommends that employers address proactively to reduce the risk of litigation, protected government audits and other costly legal problems.

Reductions in Force
The Firm has extensive experience counseling employers, and training managers, with respect to all aspects of reductions in force, including counseling and training regarding issues that arise under the Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act (WARN), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Older Workers’ Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), labor relations matters, and a review and analysis of the reduction in force selection process in order to decrease the likelihood of discrimination claims that might arise out of a reduction in force.

Training
The Firm’s attorneys have extensive experience training managers and employees, and also reviewing employers’ training programs for supervisors, managers and employees, with respect to the full range of labor and employment law issues. The Firm regularly provides clients with training on topics such as: interviewing and hiring, diversity and sensitivity in the workplace, discipline and discharge, the Family and Medical Leave Act, preventing sexual and other harassment in the workplace, preventing discrimination in the workplace, union avoidance, and personnel records maintenance. Click here to learn about training programs offered by the Firm.